When fishermen reel in a dead body in small town Brokenwood, Detective Mike Shepherd can't help but crack a joke: "I love a catch. Probably the one they wish had got away." In this excerpt from very first episode 'Blood & Water', new cop in town Shepherd (Neill Rea of Scarfies fame) pairs up with Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland from The Almighty Johnsons) to try to figure out what happened to drunk ol' Nate Dunn (Chris Sherwood). The detectives became a permanent team as the Prime TV series continued, working on deaths that plague the area.

Key Cast & Crew

We have created this unique little town that to a New Zealander seems like a familiar place and it rings true, and overseas people have responded to the peculiarity of the show and they have embraced it, because it is a tried and true genre with a twist and the twist is uniquely Kiwi.

– Writer Tim Balme on the success of the series overseas, The Sunday Star-Times, 28 October 2018